One does not have to read Oscar Wilde's The Soul of Man under Socialism when the inherant hypocrisy of charity is laid so very bare here. Where was the Good King when his own tax collectors impoverished this poor man to pay for foreign wars? We can only hope that the poor of this terrible tyrant's kingdom take note from the French when it comes to dealing with aristocracy.
In fairness, considering King Wenceslas was a ruler in a medieval, pre-capitalism context, you could argue that his charity was really an early pioneering into the welfare state. :P
By the way (and sorry for the double post, but radically different topic), I hate the way this WA resolution is named. Because on the one hand, there is an obvious contrarian vote to cast, but it would be one that would imply I wanted to kill poor people (which, for the record, I do not want to do). Should have had a less on the nose name. >:(
Oooh, I have actually been reading up a bit on this. In theory (not aleays in practise) feudal economies tended towards a 'moral' aspect. I.e. grain etc. Prices would often be artificially controlled to provide for the poor etc. Obviously mileage very much varied, but In many ways I imagine a welfare system wouldn't make a great deal of sense as a concept as it would be ingrained in the local economies rather than being a step removed from them.
Government Post I'm looking to recruit 2 new regional officers, which I think will bring us to the maximum number as I've been somewhat free with the shiny badges.
Firstly, the Voice of the Forest will be a vital part of our diplomatic relations with other regions. Their job will be to prepare regional news updates for our ambassadors to post in our embassy regions and their off-site fora, as well as our new thread in the NS gameplay forum. They'll also work with our Embassy Officer to organise the ambassador team, particularly in following up to make sure updates are being shared everywhere they should be shared. It's a major role as we continue to boost our interregional profile.
To give you an idea of what regional updates look like, here are links to some examples posted to our forum by other regions.
You don't have to copy these, but hopefully they provide helpful background. Quarterly updates should be quite enough for our purposes. The right person for this job should be either someone who's been around Forest for a while and has developed a feel for the region and its culture or someone who has produced official dispatches in another region in the past. It also has to be someone who will reliably deliver on things they've said they'll do.
The second vacancy is for a Statistics Officer, and it's a slightly delicate subject. You may be have been familiar with the dispatches we used to have pinned to the regional homepage - Exceptionally Green Nations in Forest and Ransium's Greenness Index. The first of these showcased nations in the top 1% of the world rankings for the environmental stats while the second ranked the whole region according to the Greenness Index, a formula that combines a number of stats to give a single eco-rating. They were maintained by Montmorencia, a distinguished long-time Forestarian who formerly held several government posts. I had hoped that Mont would continue doing this, but sadly he recently left Forest for the second time, leaving my last message unanswered, and also deleted the dispatches.
You may remember Montmorencia saying on the RMB that he no longer felt at home in Forest and had stayed on largely because he didn't want anyone else to take over his dispatches. Now I know people enjoyed them and looked forward to the updates, and I think Forest should give recognition to the concentration of extremely green nations that we have, but I also want to respect Mont's feelings as far as possible. It will therefore be up to the new Statistics Officer to decide on a new format to recognise environmental excellence and put new dispatches in place. Mozworld has back-up copies of the old ones to help with this process, and Mount Seymour has a script that does the calculations for the Greenness Index, but I'd like something that looks a bit different to what Mont used to do. It's a chance for a new person to employ their imagination.
This a job that could be open to one of our newer members. Please note that this will be an appointment for the rest of my term as Forest Keeper. Even if Montmorencia returns to Forest again these new dispatches will remain the official ones.
If you're interested in either of these jobs, or you'd like to talk about them, then please TG me between now and next Sunday. Tell me a little bit about what would make you a good choice. These are open to people who already have a government role, but it's also a chance to get new people involved.
The Fairy Tale of New York "The boys of the NYPD choir were singing Galway Bay and the bells were ringing our for Christmas Day." The brutal enforcers of the capitalist state believe that an annual supply of token singing and celebration will distract the masses from the true nature of their subjugation. They are mistaken.
While I definitely concur that it is a manipulative title, that is itself entirely realistic. In the US at least, a name that is meant to self-define as good, while shaming those who oppose it, is considered a gold star when drafting legislation. Double points if you can make a good acronym with it. The notorious Patriot Act, for example, named to make anybody opposing it seem unpatriotic, is fully titled "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism" or USA PATRIOT. When a bill was introduced in 2015 to try and protect free speech by reducing lawsuits that exist strictly to muzzle criticism (themselves called SLAPPs - Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation), that bill was given the name "Securing Participation, Engagement, and Knowledge Freedom by Reducing Egregious Efforts act," aka SPEAK FREE.
One of the folks in TSP added the Greenness Index (from Frorest's booth at NSWF6) to a little custom stats calculator tool he . Thought the folks in forest might like it.
My greenness Index has grown to 0.198 (Chloroplasts per Micrometer)
Sorry about the double post, but it is government business that has nothing to do with my previous one. How do y'all feel about giving new embassies a probationary period of 6 months, after which the Embassy Officer or Forest Keeper could start a vote on closure if, in their opinion, it hadn't worked out? That can be done within the framework of the current constitution.
Personally, I think that's a great idea! Embassies should reflect the desire to build a relationship and community together, and having a probationary period of 6 months helps the region realistically understand if that's possible with other regions. In addition, that helps encourage the notion that foreign relations should be built upon, and not forgotten as soon as the polls close. Forest already does an amazing job when it comes to foreign relations, but it's something that can always be improved!
6.3 Embassies may be voted on for closure at the discretion of the Forest Keeper. If the embassy has less than 6 WA nations it shall be voted on as described in Clause 6.5. Otherwise it will be voted on as described in Clause 6.6. Embassies closure may only be voted on once per election year per region, unless extreme circumstances change the nature of the region (e.g. invasion or other major regime change).
6.6 The voting process will be done in a manner similar to Clause 6.5 with one change; a 2/3’s vote will be needed to open/close the embassy.
I agree with previous suggestions of a required supermajority vote of 2/3 after 6 months to withdraw embassies.
Referring to the name of the WA resolution: I firmly believe in our rights to kill poor people. Income inequality is a serious issue, and bullets are about $30,000 cheaper per person than paying then to get out of the hole. The name of the resolution should encourage us to clean the streets with the blood of the impoverished.
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